The charts illustrate changes in the ownership of three household electrical appliances (washing machines, refrigerators, and vacuum cleaners) and the average number of hours spent on housework per week in one country from 1920 to 2019.
Overall, ownership of all three appliances increased significantly over the period, with refrigerators and vacuum cleaners becoming almost universal by 1980. In contrast, the amount of time spent on housework per household declined steadily throughout the same period.
In 1920, refrigerators were owned by only 10% of households, whereas vacuum cleaners and washing machines were more common, at around 30% and 40% respectively. By 1960, refrigerator ownership had surpassed the others, reaching nearly 90%, while washing machines and vacuum cleaners stood at 70% and 60%. From 1980 onwards, both refrigerators and vacuum cleaners were used in almost every household (close to 100%), while washing machine ownership rose more gradually to about 75% by 2019. At the same time, weekly housework hours dropped from 50 in 1920 to about 15 in 2019, showing a strong negative correlation with the rise of appliance ownership.